Mona Newsome Wicks, PhD, RN, FAAN

Mona Newsome Wicks, Ph.D., RN, FAAN received her Associate and Bachelor of Science
degrees in nursing from the University of Memphis in 1978 and 1981, respectively.
Her M.S.N. (medical and surgical nursing) was earned from the University of Tennessee,
Memphis (1987) and her Ph.D. from Wayne State University (1992). On the faculty of
the UTHSC since 1987, Dr. Wicks mentors students enrolled in the Ph.D. program and
teaches Ph.D. and DNP program courses.

Professional memberships include the American Academy of Nursing (member of the Expert
Panel on Cultural Competence and Health Equity and the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Conference
Planning Committees), American and Tennessee Nurses Associations, Sigma Theta Tau
International (Beta Theta Chapter at-large), and Southern Nurses Research Society
(Tennessee State Liaison). She is a lifetime member of the Greater Memphis Area Chapter
of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and is a former president of this
organization. Dr. Wicks is also a former permanent member of two integrated review
groups for the Center for Scientific Review, the National Institutes of Health (2006-2012).

Dr. Wicks' research interests include ethnic minority, family caregiver, and women's
health within the context of chronic illness; health promotion/risk reduction; and
health disparities. Dr. Wicks completed a National Institute of Nursing Research,
an NIH-funded study that tested whether a cognitive behavioral support group reduced
depressive and anxiety symptoms in African American women caring for relatives receiving
chronic hemodialysis. She also served as co-investigator on a National Center for
Minority Health and Health Disparities NIH-funded Exploratory Center of Excellence
grant.

A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow (2008-2011), Dr. Wicks was
named Outstanding Alumna by The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College
of Nursing in 2009. She was selected to Leadership America in 2010 and inducted as
an American Academy of Nursing Fellow in November 2010. Dr. Wicks is the recipient
of institutional, regional, and national awards for her teaching and mentoring skills
and author/co-author on 64 published articles, abstracts, and book chapters. She serves
on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nursing Education and is an Associate Editor,
Health Behavior and Policy Review. Dr. Wicks as a manuscript reviewer for several
nursing and interdisciplinary journals including Nursing Outlook, Nephrology Nursing,
Research in Nursing and Health, and the American Journal of Health Behavior. Her personal
interests include mentoring ethnic minority high school and college students interested
in health and science careers. Dr. Wicks is the Chief Executive Officer and President
of the Board of Directors of Mustard Seed, Inc., a faith-based 501 (3c) organization
that empowers families living in an urban, disadvantaged neighborhood; serves as Chair
of the Board of Trustees for the Memphis Mental Health Institute, the regional mental
health institute for Shelby County; and on the Shelby County Relative Caregivers Program
Board, an organization that supports children whose parents are not able to raise
them. In 2014, Dr. Wicks joined the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Nursing Institute
for Leadership and Policy.